Scotland post first Six Nations victory with comprehensive win over Italy

Scotland scored four tries on their way to a comprehensive win over Italy (Picture: Reuters)

Scotland hit back from last weekend’s opening Six Nations defeat to England with a resounding 34-10 victory over Italy to claim their first victory in the tournament for two years and their biggest-ever win in the competition.

Italy themselves earned a shock win against France last Sunday but found today’s clash at Murrayfield too much to handle as Scotland ran in four tries en route to victory.

It took the hosts until the half-hour mark to record their first try of the afternoon, as Tim Visser danced past two Italian defenders to put Scotland 11-0 in front, before Greig Laidlaw added the conversion.

The visitors managed to get on the scoresheet just before the break, as Luciano Orquera kicked a penalty to go into the break 13-3 down.

But Scotland’s assault continued from the start of the second half, with two tries inside three minutes from Matt Scott and a superb solo effort from Stuart Hogg, while Laidlow converted both to extend the lead to 27-3.

Scott was denied a second try of the match after 65 minutes following a forward pass, but Scotland didn’t wait long to find the try line again, this time Sean Lamont running the ball under the posts.

Italy did hit back 10 minutes later with a try of their own from Alessandro Zanni but it was far too little too late for the visitors, who suffered their first defeat of this year’s Six Nations.